JUST IN: Congress Approves Ex-Military Waiver for Biden’s Defense Secretary Nominee, Retired Gen. Lloyd Austin

Both the House and the Senate have now approved a waiver for retired General Lloyd Austin to serve as Secretary of Defense, clearing an important hurdle for one of President Joe Biden’s key Cabinet nominees.

The waiver is required under federal law because it has been less than seven years since Austin retired from military service. The purpose of the restriction is to keep the military under civilian control, and Austin addressed the issue in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

“I understand and respect the reservations some of you have expressed about having another recently retired general at the head of the Department of Defense,” said Austin. “The safety and security of our democracy demands competent civilian control of our armed forces, the subordination of military power to the civil.”

The House voted to approve the waiver Thursday afternoon, followed shortly thereafter by the Senate.

Austin retired in 2016 after a four-decade career in the Army, where he reached the rank of four-star general and was the commander of CENTCOM. If his nomination is approved by the Senate, Austin will be the first Black Secretary of Defense.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed former Defense Secretary William Cohen about Austin’s nomination and the waiver vote.

“What do you say to those senators who are worried this potentially could erode the principle of civilian control of the U.S. military?” asked Blitzer.

Cohen replied that the more important issues were factors like the nominee’s “character, quality, ethics, and relationship with the President of the United States.” He explained that Biden was essentially coming into office as a “wartime president” with the coronavirus pandemic still killing thousands of Americans every day, and needed to have a Defense Secretary who is “someone he can trust who has diplomatic skills to be sure but organizational skills,” as the military would need to play a significant role in the ongoing administration of the vaccine.

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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